Here's something that technology has unfortunately made way too easy. A nephrologist is settling back in to the office after a short vacation and absentmindedly okays an e-Rx without actually verifying it. He doesn't notice that the Rx was mistakenly entered into the computer at a lethally high dose.

The patient dies.

... The physician tried to explain it to the attorney. “The way that I pulled up the email, the actual prescription information didn't show… so I didn't actually see the text,” he explained.

“But by clicking on the signature box you were effectively signing off on the prescription,” said the attorney. “This is problematic to defend. [It] would likely be considered by a jury to be below the standard of care owed to your patient.”

After careful consideration, the case was settled out of court for an amount within Dr. P's insurance coverage.

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Does it pain you to pony up the 5% processing fee incurred when running virtual credit card payments from certain insurance providers? You'll be happy to know that health plans are required to use EFT on request.

According to AMA Wire:

“A health plan cannot require a provider to accept virtual credit card payments,” the CMS states. “A provider has the right to request that a health plan use the electronic funds transfer (EFT) transaction. If a provider makes the request, the health plan must comply.”

Additionally, the fees for EFT are limited:

"The new guidance on the CMS FAQ page states that the only fee that may apply to a HIPAA EFT transaction is the small charge (averaging 34 cents per transaction) applied by the provider’s bank."

In contrast to 2017, optometry won't have to deal with too many new codes in FY 2018. About half the pertinent code changes don't actually change the code itself, but simply correct/change the spelling of the code descriptions. The following is a round up of the changes we've noticed.

And the winner of the most arbitrarily over-specified codes in 2018 is the addition of the ATV and dirt bike accident codes (hey, you never know when you might want to specify the cause of that corneal abrasion!). We're sure this makes the life insurance lobby feel all warm and fuzzy.

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Imagine an EHR for eyecare professionals with rich editing capabilities similar to Evernote or OneNote. Multiple people could edit the same chart notes at the same time. You'd be able to view exam notes with embedded anterior or posterior segment images. It would have intuitive drawing capabilities so you could quickly sketch pathology and easily refer to your sketches from past exams. You'd be able to use your smartphone or tablet device to take pictures and embed them anywhere in the chart, as you do with other mainstream apps. You could compare test results, like Visual Fields and OCT, side-by-side, year-over-year. And you'd be able to easily compare exam notes across several patient encounters like you can with handwritten notes, except it would be quicker, richer, and easier-to-navigate.

In short, think about an EHR product that takes those things at which the paper chart excels, and enhances and augments them so that you can engage with your patients in new and powerful ways.

That's the EHR product we'd like to use. And that's what we're building for ourselves. And we'd like to share it with you.

We're making FlowChart EHR™, a different kind of ophthalmic software. One which we hope provides a truly meaningful interaction with technology rather than simply checking off meaningful use requirements (although it'll do that, too). We think we can become better doctors through the use of better technology. If that interests you, and you'd like to be among the first to hear about our exclusive upcoming free trial, then please sign up for our weekly email newsletter so we can stay in touch.

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We're making FlowChart EHR™, a different kind of ophthalmic software. We think we can become better doctors through the use of better technology. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter to learn more and be among the first to hear about our exclusive upcoming free trial.